Butterfly Effect, the parent company of Chinese AI agent startup Manus, said Thursday it has completed a funding round of more than $500 million, the company’s first since Meta was forced to call off its acquisition of the startup. The round was co-led by Boyu Capital and IDG Capital, with existing investors Tencent, HSG (formerly Sequoia China) and ZhenFund participating. The company said it will continue hiring both at home and abroad. Manus did not disclose its valuation, though last month it was said to be courting investors at roughly $4 billion.
The raise closes the loop on one of the year’s stranger tech deals. Manus went viral after a demo of its AI agent last year, relocated staff to Singapore in mid-2025, and announced a $2 billion acquisition by Meta that December. In April, Chinese authorities ordered the deal unwound amid intensifying worries over losing AI talent and researchers to the West, part of Beijing’s tightening scrutiny of US investment in Chinese startups developing advanced AI. Manus resumed independent operations in August and said it was required to delete some user data as part of the split.
The business keeps growing through the turbulence. The Information reported in June that Manus’s annualized revenue run rate had surged to about $500 million, up from $100 million when Meta acquired it. A Hong Kong listing is reportedly in the works, though Manus will not begin the IPO process until at least 2027, according to a source familiar with the matter. Manus makes general-purpose AI agents and vibe-coding tools for building apps, websites, designs and video, competing with the likes of Cursor, Lovable and Replit.